Recently, I heard a Grade 6 student explain that he and his friends had walked out of school to protest against a government measure that they believed had resulted in their teachers' rights being taken away. The principal was not impressed. I think we should be very impressed.
What are our children in Canada seeing in the streets of our cities and towns? Idle No More, Occupy, protests in Ontario and Quebec by teachers and students -- and remember the G-20 protests in Toronto in 2010? While some of us looked the other way, the children are still watching.

Though "Occupy the Legislature" may not have had the same ring, our policy decisions offer mechanisms that will either perpetuate or diminish the income divide in the years to come. With any luck, pending budget announcements will occupy our mutual scrutiny with the same fury that the protests have.

The 99 per cent built a nation, raised successful families against increasing economic odds, built remarkably successful businesses, sacrificed for their communities and cared for their world. Only a blind ideologue could overlook such important contributions.

The Occupy Movement seems to rise in popularity and attendance not when they decide to do something but rather when an external force lashes out at them. Once the threat passes, numbers dwindle down again. The support for Occupy is entirely reactionary. Is this any true way to incite global change?

The Conservatives sold people a phony bill of goods, playing on anger over hot button social issues while undermining their economic future. But we can foster a sense of co-operation in our society rather than pitting people against each other, constantly fanning the flames of fear as Stephen Harper has done.

Turning St. James Park into an Alamo for its cause risked Occupy Toronto's ability to carry on after defeat. The potential power Occupy Toronto has isn't in clinging to an arbitrarily chosen plot of land. It is in the ability to harness the power of those who came out and to build a movement that has an impact on the world.

More protesters began arriving just before noon. A police officer put the number at 1,200, but to me it seemed more like 400. The tents had already begun folding like houses of cards, mostly at the hands of city workers.